Causes of TMJ
Temporomandibular Joint Disorder is a disorder that causes pain in your temporomandibular joint most commonly known as your jaw. For some time, specialists thought that it results from malocclusion, but after a lot of research was carried out, it has led them to believe this may not be the only cause.
If you suffer from TMJ, it is common for you to have some trouble when opening your mouth. In many cases when you try to open your mouth widely, your joint pops or clicks. If you suffer from TMJ, you will also be prone to having toothache or neck pain. You may also experience dizziness or you could have tinnitus. Some other causes of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder include:
- HPA Axis Dysregulation
- Inflammation
- Hormone balance
- Child birth
- Pinched nerves
- Obstructed airways
TMJ and how HPA Axis Dysregulation affects you;
If this disease affects you, you should understand that the more stress you are under, the more pain you are likely to experience. Adrenal Fatigue or HPA Axis Dysregulation is a common symptom of those that have TMJ. This is because you will have higher levels of cortisol in the morning and when you are stressed out you will release large amounts of it. TMJ sufferers have showed that they have cortisol rhythms that are not the norm, which would indicate that they would suffer from adrenal fatigue.
TMD and Inflammation
If you suffer from TMJ, stress causes your body to become resistant to the effect of cortisol. With your body being immune, the normal process to keep inflammation at bay doesn’t function as well as it should. It is believed that the stress that you undergo could also be associated with the pain that you feel when suffering from TMJ.
How does your hormone balance affect your condition with TMJ?
It seems that women are more prone to suffering from TMJ because disorders that cause pain such as Fibromyalgia are more common among women and it is believed that the balance of your hormones can play a major role. When you suffer from TMJ whether you are male or female, your estrogen levels would be a lot higher than a non-sufferer would. Estrogen compared to testosterone causes a lot more damage to TMJ. Female patients that are on an oral contraceptive or receiving hormone replacements are more likely to develop the disorder. There are ways to balance your hormones and in turn, it is effective for TMJ Disorder Treatment and they include:
- Make sure that you are at a healthy weight
- Avoid compounds that could expose you to more estrogen
- Try keep your stress levels as low as possible
- Eat an adequate amount of fiber to keep your constitution healthy
Does Child Birth affect TMJ?
It is believed that the process of a baby travelling down the birth canal and the pressure on the skull can cause TMJ Disorder. Although most babies might not suffer any effectsfrom this pressure, there are cases where children will suffer at a later stage in life.
What are TMJ Symptoms and Treatment?
Here are many different TMJ Symptoms and Treatments for sufferers. The symptoms of TMJ are painful and many struggle to live with it. Symptoms can include any of the following:
- Headaches
- Neck, back and shoulder pains
- Difficulty in opening the jaw widely and experiencing a popping of the jaws
Although it is often adults that suffer from TMJ, children can also be sufferers. Even though treatment of TMJ Symptoms can alleviate pain for the young and old, the treatment isn’t something that can work overnight. It takes time for TMJ Treatment to alleviate the pain that accompanies it. For TMJ Treatment, you can consider the following:
- If you are a teeth grinder, you can use a mouth guard
- For young children, a trip to the orthodontist to balance the jaw or to fix skewed teeth is necessary
- Adults and children need to get enough sleep
How does pinched nerves and obstructed airways affect a TMJ sufferer?
Having an imbalance of your spine could cause the pain associated with TMJ because your muscles have to work harder to rectify the body’s balance and could ultimately cause tingling sensations and numbness in your limbs. When the lower jaw isn’t aligned properly, your tongue will end up further back in your mouth than it should, which will in turn cause obstructed breathing. This causes the body to once again work harder and the extra stress on the body will cause more pain in the neck and jaw for sufferers. Since there are so many small details that could make a difference in your TMJ Disorder Treatment, it is best to do as much reading as you possibly can to get all the relevant information needed to understand the disease.